Sunday 17th January - No..... :

Yesterday's letter was N for NO!

Today's letter is a punctuation symbol; semicolon : for a longer pause than usual

I thought of an interesting thing to post yesterday, but I have forgotten what it was. Maybe it will come back to me? Maybe not. There is so much almost nothing happening to fill the day that I am losing track.

Last night was a 'non-sleeping' night. They come along every so often and there's nothing much to be done about it. When this happens I listen to the World Service or other things - audiobooks, podcasts, Cds, through headphones. Some programmes will get me back to sleep quite quickly, and others are too interesting and I stay awake. This time I continued reading a C J Sansom book, 'Sovereign' on my Kindle which is backlit, remembering how I used to read books by torchlight under the bedclothes when I was little. 

There's a knack to managing headphones when you are half asleep in bed, turning over without tangling yourself in the lead and having the music playing device crashing to the floor. It pays to stay still - too much tossing and turning over and over can leave you in a bit of tangle.

I have been testing a number of recipes today - I'm slightly fascinated by all these 'Just 3 Ingredients' recipes that have been flooding the internet recently. Today we had '3-ingredient cheesy biscuits' and '3-ingredient tomato soup' for supper.

The cheesy biscuits , are a winner; they are American style biscuits, a sort of scone-like thing

2 cups S R flour, 1-2 cups 'shredded' (grated) cheese, 1 1/3 cups milk. You just stir this all together and dollop little pyramids of this onto a greased or lined baking sheet, and bake for 15-20 mins at 180C fan. I made half quantities which was 4 decent sized 'biscuits'. Split and spread with butter they were excellent with the 

3-ingredient Tomato soup.

Now, this reminds me more of the story of Stone Soup; The Tony Ross re-telling of the traditional tale is far more dramatic;

‘Stone Soup’ retells the classic folk tale of the Big Bad Wolf. In this story the Wolf decides that he wants to eat the Hen, as he is a little hungry and wants to steal all of the lovely things she has. The Wolf tells the Hen about his plan, she suggests he first eat some of her stone soup, the Wolf is intrigued as he has eaten many kinds of soup, but never stone soup. She begins making her soup with a single stone in a pot of boiling water, as she adds more and more vegetable to her soup she asks the Wolf to help her with some chores around the house. Stone soup takes a very long time to cook, so the Wolf completes many chores for the Hen, such as washing the dishes, cleaning & dusting the house, bringing in the washing, cutting fire wood, fixing the TV aerial and finally cleaning the chimney. By the time the Wolf finishes all the chores the soup is ready and the Wolf begins eating. Then the Hen asks the Wolf when he is going to eat her, he tells her that he can’t as he is too full!

The recipe calls for a tin of tomatoes, half an onion and some butter.It is also pretty quick to make; you won't have time for much housework! 

You melt the butter (I used a couple of tablespoons of olive oil), add the chopped onions and tomatoes, and two more cans of water, a bit of salt and pepper (that makes 5 ingredients) and simmer until soft. Then liquidize, check seasoning and serve.

Hmm. It is improved by the addition of more vegetables, (I added a medium potato to give it some body), and by using stock instead of water. A drop of balsamic vinegar at the end helped, and a bit of chilli warmth. It was a good soup, and I have two more portions set aside for another day.

No walking, apart from round the garden. Tooooo cold!